New Rail Training Center For Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce has inaugurated a new Training Center for MTU rail drive systems and is thereby expanding the global Center of Excellence for Series 1600 PowerPacks at its site in East Grinstead, Great Britain. In the Training Center, Rolls-Royce experts instruct technicians of end users, dealers and distributors as well as internal service technicians in the handling and maintenance of the MTU drive systems in order to ensure maximum availability.

The center includes a workshop which enables hands-on training with a PowerPack and a Series 1600 engine. More than 50 technicians can participate in the three to five day courses per year. The most important customer and partner is currently Hitachi Rail. The company’s Class 800, 801 and 802 high-speed trains are in service on tracks all over Great Britain, powered by MTU Series 1600 PowerPacks.

“The new Training Center is an impressive example of Rolls-Royce’s commitment to our trains and the millions of journeys they run every year,” said Jack Commandeur, group director of Maintenance Service Operations at Hitachi Rail. “The training of technicians from Hitachi and Rolls-Royce in the handling of MTU PowerPacks makes an important contribution to the further success of our cooperation.”

Rolls-Royce said the MTU Training Centers play an important role in the development of the Power Systems business unit from a manufacturer of engines to a provider of integrated solutions. Rolls-Royce offers courses at MTU Training Centers in 20 countries all over the world.

“The new Training Center is an important milestone for our location which is serving our global customers as a Center of Excellence for Series 1600 rail PowerPacks,” said Bruce Phillips, managing director at MTU UK. “The first courses with our long-standing partner Hitachi Rail have already been completed successfully and are of great importance for the reliable service of our drive solutions.”